Kirkland Lacrosse Takes Big Finn Sports Field Proposal to the Community

A $1.6 million proposal to upgrade a grass sports field with synthetic turf, lights and bleachers at popular in Kirkland drew plenty of support at a public meeting Monday, but also questions of concern by neighbors.

Several residents who live within a lacrosse shot of the field expressed concern about noise particularly at night, shining lights, increased activity, vandalism and how the upgraded field might change the natural setting of the park.

“A big issue is noise,” said Berta Allen, who lives near the existing developed baseball fields at the park. “When the kids play baseball, for some of the neighbors it’s like they’re right in your living room. We work and don’t necessarily want to hear whistles and noise when we get home after work.”

Kirkland Lacrosse is proposing the upgrade to the field at the 220-acre park as part of King County Parks’ Community Partnerships program. Group officials say the growing sport of lacrosse lacks locations because of a serious shortage of sports fields on the Eastside, and that they’ll have to start turning kids aways if they can’t find more places to play.

Although the park is in Kirkland, it is owned and managed by King County Parks, which has designated it as a regional park for all residents of the county.

Most in the audience at , many of them members of Kirkland Lacrosse, supported the upgrade.

John Anderson said he had been involved in lacrosse, orginally a Native American game, for 29 seasons and noted its explosive growth in recent years. “I’m excited about our (new) guys having the same opportunity.”

Another person said it is important for youth to have places to play. “We’re forgetting that this is for the kids,” she said. “This is something positive for them.”

Steve Lytle, president of the youth lacrosse group, also noted during the meeting that the park’s current master plan, negotiated with neighbors during the 1980s, limits its use to day-use. That would have to be changed for the group’s proposal to work, since it depends on night use, increased use and the accruing rental fees to pay for the cost.

But a few neighbors said that they would oppose any such change.

“I’m all for youth sports,” said a resident who noted he lives near the proposed field and right now can call police when he notices activity in the park at night.

The extended hours, he said, provide “no security. We’d have no resource. That puts me and my family at risk. It also means more traffic near my house at night when I have to go to work in the morning.”

Lytle acknowledged the legitimacy of many of the concerns and said he would work to reach an agreement with the county that addressed as many as possible.

“We’ll do that,” he said. “I get it. This is the first real dialogue we’ve had about this. We’re real open to any suggestions or ideas. We can work to improve tree buffers. But when I look at the city of Kirkland, there’s just no other place” for new fields to play.

Lytle said the park would use state-of-the-art lighting that focuses beams downward, and that the surrounding forest would help prevent shine from reaching homes. He said the field would be used for lacrosse primarily over three months of the year beginning in February, and the rest of the year it would be used for soccer or other activities.

The field would remain fully open to the public, except when reserved for use by various sports groups.

The upgraded facility would result in more use of the park, Lytle said, but added that with its location being surrounded by forest, it is suitable for increased use. He noted that the field is too wet most of the year to use as a sports field, and that the artificial surface would increase its playability, eliminate the need for fertilizers and channel runoff into a filtration area.

Kirkland Lacrosse plans to pay for the upgrade over time through donations, player fees and rental fees it would be able to charge for a limited number of hours it would get for that purpose under the agreement with the county.

Small amounts of public money  would come from grants through the county's partnership program, and Lytle said state Sen Andy Hill, R-Redmond, had secured $150,000 in state funds for the upgrade.

Hill said Tuesday that the money would come from the state's capital budget, not the recently debated operating budget, one goal of which is to create jobs.

"This was a great opportunity to create short-term jobs, and this great long-lasting legacy for the community," he said.

Kirkland Lacrosse has also established a Facebook site where comments about the proposal may be left.